Dual Katanas

[white heron]

A two handed katana in the game would feel mutch more authentic for roleplaying and preferable to me.I remember there were some two handed katanas in Dark side of the Sword coast which were cool.

Originally posted by Greadius: Aren't two handed katana's called diashi's? Its just a bigger version of the same... Katana in itself is long-ish (but then so are the arms of fighters) but light. I thought Katana's were designed to use a wakizashi (horrible spelling on that one) in the off hand... which is a shorter version of a katana? Or am I messing up my samurai history here, but they used two blades, one to strike and one to parry with (in the off hand). I'm sure this would be very easy to look up on the internet

.
Dai-katana. I believe the Dai-shi refers to the Katana AND wakizashi combined. However, the katana is used with both hands. It can be dualled with the Wakizashi, but a single katana is more usual. Anyway, we're talking about fantasy here, not reality, so dual whatveer you like! Lord Raptor did Crom Faeyr (hammer) and Celestial Fury (katana)

[caleb]

The 2 handed katana's that were used on the battlefield were called no-dachis and were used to punch a hole in the other armys defence.

------------------
Welcome to hell.

[Zateel]

Myomoto Musashi, perhaps the most famous of all Samuri, was said to have used a dual wield style, although he probably didn't use TWO katanas- more likely a katana and a wakizashi. I'm no master of kenjutsu, but I can generate a lot more power with two hands than one with a katana, because the long handle allows for a push(top hand) pull(lower hand) stroke not possible on long swords. A one handed style is not necessarily weak in classical iado, where decapitation upon drawing is one of the first strokes learned. The Kendo concept of fencing and parrying is much less realistic than the goal of the budoka- one swipe, one kill.

As far as game play in BGII, I think it would be nice to see bonuses for two hand use, similar to DiabloII, maybe 1-10 for one hand use and 1-12 for two hand use, although looking through IEEP files, I don't think there is a way to code that on the page that calculates damage. The same would be nice for Bastard swords, which follow the damage table for "broadswords" in old D&D rules, although it's been so long since I've played, I'm not even familiar with the "official" 2nd edition rules, but there were two damage tables for bastard swords originally, 1 or 2 handed.

Don't forget Leonardo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!(a katana dual weilder)

[Dreamer128]

I´ve heard bioware will change this in future games.

[Cayle]

In PnP, each proficiency in sword and shield style improved AC by one (grand master=+5 bonus).

OOPS! I should have said, "In my house rules..."

------------------
- Cayle

[Bruce The Aussie]

my friends have got katanas and i'm a starting out weapons collector so i've studied katanas and they can be 1 handed but you have to be really strong to do that. i use two hands pursonally. also remember your the son\daughter of a god of corse you are stong enough to dual wield

------------------

Bruce The Aussie, Camp Barbarian Hunter OHF
jester of LH and Master Beastmaster of the clan of the Kats

[Pennance]

A friend of mine actually showed me a little Kendo he knew several years ago and we were using live steel (kids, don't try this at home). I have my own set of Katana/wakizashi swords that I was using, so I was used to their grip. But the way he was teaching me was always to use a two hand style. There were some slashes executed with one hand, but it always returned to a 2-handed style.

But since we're pulling TV into this with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, what about Highlander? Conar and Duncan used Katanas and what style did they use?

To me 2-weapon style with large weapons is a desperation tactic. And I still stand firm that the off-hand weapon should be smaller like a short sword or dirk. But that's my 2-cents.

[Avatar]

Hardly! Scimitars are ideally dual used just like Drizzt.

[DonkeyWan]

To be honest, since Katanas are mainly Japanese, they would have been duel wielded. Most samurai had two swords, a cutting sword and a stabbing sword. It is only recently that I have seen the two handed 'westernised' version of the sword being used.